Raymond J. Sachtleben was born on October 5, 1917. He was the son of Albert and Emma Sachtleben. Sachtleben graduated from Hackensack High School, then he attended the Newark College of Engineering, where he was also a member of basketball and rifle teams.

On leaving college, he was employed by the International Projector Corporation in New York in the Time Study Department. Outside work, he was a member of the Hackensack Y-for-all and instructor of the Rifle team.

He gained his civilian pilot's license before enlisting in the Army in May 1942.

He was awarded his commission in the US Army Air Force as a pilot in early 1943 before joining his crew at Alamogordo, New Mexico, then moving on to final combat training at Davis-Monthan Airfield in Tucson, Arizona, before flying their allocated aircraft B24J (#44-40146) 'Sugar-N-Spice' across the Atlantic via the southern route, arriving at North Pickenham in April 1944. There, he spent his first weeks on familiarisation flights with the 856th Squadron and was promoted from 2nd to 1st Lieutenant.

Sachtleben's first operational mission as a pilot was on May 11, 1944, in 'Sugar-N-Spice.' There were two further missions in this aircraft while the six following missions were in a variety of other 'ships.' The final and fatal mission on June 4, 1944, was in B24H (42-95160). This un-named 'replacement' aircraft was on its fourth mission, having arrived in the squadron five days earlier.

A pilot on the airplane, B-24H #42-95160 took off from England on a bombing mission over Avord, France. For an unknown reason, the plane stalled and spun out of control, and crashed at Garvestone, Norfolk, England. 1Lt Sachtleben is now buried in the George Washington Memorial Park, Paramus, Bergen County, New Jersey, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, http://www.garveston12.org.uk